Gregory Alan Isakov: A Folk Artist In A Symphony Hall

Gregory Alan Isakov with the Colorado Symphony is Isakov's latest album and first to embrace large-scale collaboration.

NPR Staff

Gregory Alan Isakov's three studio albums have been spare and intimate: His voice, his guitar, sometimes a banjo, a piano, a fiddle, some drums. With his latest LP, Isakov wanted to build his songs bigger — so he gave them to a symphony. The Colorado Symphony, to be exact.

"It was kind of one of those daydreamy ideas that you write down, and you're kind of like, 'This is way too far out. This will never happen.' But then it happened! And we thought, let's record 15 songs and see which ones lend themselves the best," Isakov explains. "You know, there's the normal kind of nervousness that you get when you play for other people outside of your kitchen. But I think, when you're playing this music in these buildings that are created for music, it's indescribable."

Isakov spoke with NPR's Rachel Martin about the creation of Gregory Alan Isakov with the Colorado Symphony. Hear more of their conversation at the audio link.